The Capacity For Friendship
by GakuenAlicefan27
Summary: But he felt bad about leaving Jasper to his own demons, and leaving seemed like something an Evil Overlord would do. Or maybe it was something a lot of good people would do, but that didn't mean it was the right thing, just the easiest. - In which Call and Jasper have a real, honest to God talk. - Non-compliant with The Bronze Key


A/N: I'm not going to write another Magisterium fic until I finish my other fic projects, I said. I'm strong, I said. Actually, no, I'm weak so here's another Magisterium fic! And it's my tenth one at that! Oh my God, I've got ten Magisterium fics, how did I lose control like that?

Also, if you've read my previous fic "A Ghost of Summer", and you want to know what happened to Call and Havoc, you can ask for it in a review or send me a PM - but it can't be a guest review, because I have no way of replying to those. There have been three guest reviews asking me for an answer already, but there's nothing I can do to contact them back. If you don't have an account or want to remain anonymous, you can send me an ask on tumblr, cause I can reply to anonymous asks there.

I also published this fic on AO3 (username: MidnightHalo27)

There are spoilers for those who haven't finished The Copper Gauntlet, but the fic is not compliant with The Bronze Key. The Bronze Key didn't happen, okay guys? *sniffs*

Disclaimer: The Magisterium book series belongs to Cassandra Clare and Holly Black, not me.

I hope you like it! Reviews, kudos, etc are great! Constructive criticism is very welcome, but flames will be used to roast marshmallows.

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 **The Capacity for Friendship**

 _by: GakuenAlicefan27_

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 _"The capacity for friendship is God's way of apologizing for our families"_ – _Jay McInerney_

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"I'm worried about Jasper." Celia said, plopping down beside Call and the others as they were playing Cards Against Humanity in the Gallery.

Tamara looked up from her cards. "What's wrong with Jasper?"

"More than usual, you mean?" Call asked, earning him a playful shove from Tamara and a snicker from Gwenda.

Celia sighed. "He's been holed up in the library the whole weekend, elbow-deep in books, and he refuses to take a break."

Aaron raised an eyebrow. "Really? But we don't have any tests coming up."

"Exactly. I have no idea what's gotten into him, but it's not good. You should see how tired he looks." She said, accepting the cookie that Gwenda offered her. "I don't know what to do to convince him to get out of there. Can any of you try?"

"Ah, count me out." Rafe said. "I already tried it this morning and he barely paid me any attention."

Celia looked at the others hopefully. Gwenda shook her head. "No way, he'll try and bite my head off. Just send Call, he's used to it."

"Me?!" Call said, nearly dropping his cards.

Tamara laughed. "Thanks for offering, Call. Good luck!"

"Yeah, good luck, Call!" Rafe said.

"Are you kidding me?! Aaron, I need some help here!"

But Aaron merely laughed along, the traitor.

~x~

And that is how Call found himself in the library, awkwardly standing next to Jasper's table.

Celia was right though, he did look awful, which was a first for Jasper. Call shifted his weight from one foot to the other as Jasper looked up from the book he was reading. His eyes landed on Call and he instantly looked annoyed. "What?"

"Uh." Call very intelligently began. "Celia is worried, so take a break maybe?"

"No." Jasper answered, curtly. "Tell Celia she doesn't need to worry."

"Are you serious? Have you looked yourself in the mirror recently?" Call asked. It was, obviously, the wrong thing to say, but hey, he had already stablished that Constantine had been the charming one.

Jasper narrowed his eyes. "Why did you even come anyway?"

"I was graciously volunteered as a tribute."

"Huh." Jasper said. "Well, I've got more important things to do than talk to you. You can go back now."

"Oh, thanks for your generosity." Call said, pushing a chair and sitting down instead. Jasper decided to ignore him and go back to his book.

Call sat in silence for a few minutes, thinking of what to say. After they'd come back from Maine, Call had expected Jasper to ease up a little now that he was part of the group that had "killed" The Enemy of Death" and his family name had regained some of its credibility, but things had actually gotten worse. This was the first time he had stayed in the library for so long, but he had been studying way more this year than he had the years before; had been way more stressed out too.

"Is this about your family?" Call found himself asking before he could bite his tongue.

Jasper sent him a scathing look. "What about my family?"

Call shrugged. "Is there still a lot of pressure on you? I assumed it would get better, but…"

"It doesn't." Jasper spat. "Get better. They get appeased, for a short time, but eventually they always want more. There's no such things as having too much dignity or respect. Every time I see them it's the same thing. It never ends."

Call winced. A part of him kind of always knew this was how those ancient mage families worked, but it was different from hearing it out loud.

It made him think of Tamara too. Now that two thirds of her group were Makaris, he wondered how much more pressure her parents were putting on her to be as "good" as them. He felt like a bad friend for not thinking about it before; he'd make sure to remember to talk to her about it later.

He felt a bit sick. He knew what it was like to live under constant vigilance from your family, not to make sure that he was perfect, but to make sure that he wasn't secretly evil. Still, constant vigilance was constant vigilance, and Call remembered pretty well how it felt to be always on alert, always thinking everything through so that he'd never say or do something that his father might take the wrong way. It was hell, and though things had gotten infinitely better for him since he and Alastair talked after that whole mess with the Alkahest, Jasper and Tamara weren't free from that.

"Stay over at my place during the summer." Call blurted out, the full comprehension of what he'd just said only coming to him when he saw Jasper's shocked expression.

"What?!" Jasper exclaimed, voice some octaves higher.

"I…I mean…" Call scrambled for words, fighting the urge to flee or maybe just stick his head in the ground. "You could take a break from all this stress, and it's not like your parents would complain that you're staying at the house of a Makar."

"Yeah, you're just forgetting the very important fact that we'd kill each other within the first day! Are you out of your mind, Hunt?!"

"It was just a suggestion, okay?! It sprang to my mind and I said it! You can ignore it and pretend this never happened if you'd like!" Call said, palms up. It served him right, he figured, for being dumb enough to say something like that. Jasper was right, they couldn't even go an hour without snapping at each other – There was no way they'd last an entire summer.

Jasper huffed, turning the page in the book with much more force than necessary. Call looked down at the table, just so he wouldn't have to look at him, and noticed that all the books scattered around had something to do with fire magic. He picked one up, frowning.

"Why all this stuff about fire magic? I thought you had gotten much better since Iron year." He said, watching as Jasper's grip on the book got just a little bit tighter.

"I have." He said, and for a moment it looked like he was going to say something else, but changed his mind at the last second. "I just want to get even better."

Call didn't buy it. He could see that there was more to it just looking at the frustrated frown on Jasper's face. For a moment, he considered not saying anything more; he could just nod as if he believed him, maybe make some small talk for a few more minutes, then get up and leave. He had already stayed way more than he expected he would, and nobody could say that he hadn't tried.

But he felt bad about leaving Jasper to his own demons, and leaving seemed like something an Evil Overlord would do. Or maybe it was something a lot of good people would do, but that didn't mean it was the right thing, just the easiest.

He sighed. "Okay, now tell me the truth." Jasper's shoulders tensed, and Call thought he was going to get snapped at again, but then the fight just seemed to drain out of him, and he looked at Call with hesitation rather than anger.

Call waited, absently playing with the band of his bracelet. Jasper bit the inside of his cheek, then asked: "What happened during your last test of The Iron Trial?

Call blinked. "What?"

Jasper rolled his eyes. "Your last test of The Iron Trial. How was it? How did it go?

"I understood what you said the first time, I just don't see what this has to do with anything." Call said, raising his eyebrows.

"Just answer, Hunt."

Call huffed. "Okay, okay. It went…well, you know I was trying to fail, so I did everything I could to put the flame out, but it stayed on even when I knocked it into the water." He made a face. "Anyway, Master Rufus saw right through me. He was…not impressed."

Jasper didn't say anything for a while, then admitted in a low voice. "Yeah, I knew."

Call gaped at him. "What?! Wait, wait, wait! How did you know that?! And if you already knew, then why did you ask me to tell you?! And why the hell are we even talking about this?! Are you trying to distract me or something?"

Jasper looked at the table as if it had personally offended him, then scowled. "I'm not trying to distract you. I overheard Master Rufus telling Master Milagros about it a couple of days ago. I…" The frown was back on his face now, deeper than it had been before. "I guess I just wanted to confirm it, to make sure that I wasn't hearing things."

"Okaaayyyy." Call said, though he was still pretty confused. "Am I missing something important here? Cause I still don't see how this has to do with you overdosing on studying fire magic."

Jasper seemed like he wanted to scream, but since he couldn't do it, as they were in the library, he settled for hissing. "Do you have ANY idea how hard it was for me to go through that test?! I had to use every bit of concentration I had to keep that flame on and it still nearly went out every few seconds! And then, there's you! You were completely untrained, and you weren't even trying! But not only your flame remained steady, no, it freaking fell in the water and it still didn't go out!"

Call spluttered. "Jasper, I…is this the reason for all of this? Oh my God…"

Jasper seethed. "YES, Hunt! That is the reason for all of this! Because I've gotten better at fire magic, yes, but I still can't do something that you were able to do two years ago! Are you happy now?!"

Call rubbed his temples, not even caring that Jasper had admitted for the first time ever that Call was better than him at something. "Why are you even comparing…ah, forget it, you're always comparing everything we do, there's no use discussing this. Still, you do realize that I wasn't able to keep the flame on because I knew what I was doing, right? It stayed on because I lacked control! That's not something you should be envious of!"

Jasper crossed his arms, but he did look much calmer now that he'd gotten to vent. "It doesn't matter. I don't think I'd be able to do it even if I lost control of my magic."

"Jasper, come on. Don't kill yourself over this. I know this bothers you, but is it really such a big deal? Put those back in the shelves, come with me to the Gallery and have fun with your friends. Take your time with this stuff." Call hesitated before continuing, but he'd already offered, hadn't he? And now he was more convinced than ever that Jasper really needed it. "And I was serious when I said you could spend the summer at my place. You don't need to decide it now, but the offer is standing."

"I..." Jasper looked from the books to Call. "I'll think about it."

Call smiled. Just this already felt like a victory. "Now come."

The expression on everyone's face when Call actually showed up at the Gallery with Jasper was priceless. People of little faith.

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A/N: Thank you very much for reading!

I always love to discuss anything Magisterium related! You can find me on tumblr as agarotado27dejunho


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